


At First Blush

by ZsforSs



Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy Trilogy - Timothy Zahn, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Gen, Huddling For Warmth, Hypothermia, I mean medically necessary cuddling, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Partial Nudity, Pre-Slash, There's implied Thranto, and implied past thra'kif, but mostly this is just cute feelsy cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZsforSs/pseuds/ZsforSs
Summary: Eli attends survival training on Csilla and meets someone from Thrawn's past.
Relationships: Ba'kif/Eli Vanto
Comments: 17
Kudos: 25





	At First Blush

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chaos_monkey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaos_monkey/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Stubborn](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27920416) by [chaos_monkey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaos_monkey/pseuds/chaos_monkey). 



> This is kinda a sequel to chaos_monkey's fic Stubborn? You definitely don't have to read that one first... but you should if you haven't.

Retirement was not for him. He had tried for a while once he stepped down as Supreme General, but inaction drove him mad and he could only spend so much time learning needlepoint.

Besides, he had been in the CDF so long that being out of it was like losing a limb.

The eventual solution he'd found was this, Supreme General Ba'kif was now Director Ba'kif, head of the Fiurirecei Survival Training Center on Csilla.

His facility saw everyone from fresh recruits to the CDF's elite, which allowed him to keep an eye on the Ascendancy's forces while also having time to relax and practice his needlework now and then.

Their next group was from Admiral Ar'alani's vessel, 10 officers were due for their annual survival refresher, the participants' files had just arrived.

Ba'kif noted one file in particular was flagged. He reviewed the others before turning to the flagged file. It was not unusual for someone's file to be flagged, it could mean any number of things-from relevant personal information to special medical requirements.

He knew why this officer's file was flagged as soon as he opened it. The name would have given it away if the holo hadn't.

Eli'vanto.

This was the human.

He'd heard about the human of course, everyone had. The one Thrawn had sent to the Ascendancy for some reason... he no longer had the clearance to learn why.

Ba'kif examined the holo, besides his coloration there wasn't anything particularly remarkable about Eli'vanto, he looked...slightly apprehensive in his holo.

The flag was just an information pack about differences in human and Chiss biology. He forwarded the information to Medical before reviewing it himself- nothing that should cause a problem... though the lower core temperature might put him at a disadvantage during the practical test.

It occurred to him about halfway through reading the human's medical information that this must have been written by Thrawn. There was no specific giveaway that this was so, except that the writing was meticulously detailed, mentioning possible complications that would be incredibly unlikely. And he knew that was how Thrawn organized things in his mind, having listened to the man walk him through his battle plans more than once.

He had not seen Thrawn in over a decade, and he spared a moment to miss the enigmatic, infuriating man. Perhaps if he had any luck left he would see him again one day.

* * *

Lieutenant Eli'vanto was smaller than he'd expected.

Beyond that he seemed unassuming. He was quiet, and intensely focused on the refresher lessons the officers got. His demeanor reminded Ba'kif of young cadet Thrawn, though it was clear that while Eli'vanto's fellow officers didn't seem to know what to do with him, they seemed to like him well enough- and that had not always been the case with Thrawn.

After a few days of reviewing it was time for the officer's practical test. The ten of them would be dropped at varying points across the snowy mountains around the facility with supplies and an emergency beacon. They had ten days to make it back to the training center. The fastest it was possible to make the hike would be three days, but most soldiers took at least five. If they activated their beacons or took more than ten days they failed the training and would have to attend remedial lessons depending on the reason for their failure.

Ba'kif watched the officers board the shuttle to take them to their starting locations, noting that Eli'vanto looked notably worried, something unlike Thrawn's perpetually calm demeanor.

It wasn't until the shuttle returned, officers all unloaded that it occurred to Ba'kif that no one had considered checking what type of survival training Eli'vanto had had prior to this. A serious oversight on all their parts, but it was too late now.

Still, Ba'kif kept a closer eye than usual on this group of officers, wanting to see how the human would do.

He felt a bit guilty, he admitted to himself. If he'd spent less time comparing the young man to Thrawn perhaps he would have thought to double-check his knowledge base.

Two of the officers made it back early on day four, and Ba'kif resisted the urge to check the trackers in the emergency beacons of the other officers. There was staff assigned to make sure the beacons kept moving and it wouldn't do to hover.

He was about to turn in for the night, but decided to go down to check-in one more time- that at least was an _acceptable_ form of hovering. And Frira was working check in tonight, she wouldn't mind.

People rarely arrived long after dark, they were encouraged to shelter in place at night during training and were provided the supplies to do so. So it was surprising to say the least when he walked in on another officer checking in.

He realized two things immediately- first, this was clearly Eli'vanto, none of the other officers were that size. And second, he looked dangerously cold. He moved quickly to the medical scanner they kept in the check in area while he listened to the human stutter out his name and identification number.

“Are you supposed to be that color?” Frira asked, clearly concerned by the human's visibly low body temperature.

Eli'vanto did not answer immediately, instead he looked down at his outerwear in confusion.

He did look paler than normal, and the medical scanner confirmed his core body temperature was low. It was actually low enough a Chiss wouldn't have been able to keep walking, but was still considered only slightly too cold by human standards.

“He's hypothermic.” Ba'kif said.

“Should I call medical?”

Ba'kif considered what he'd read on humans and the symptoms Eli'vanto was displaying. “No, stay put. I'll take him to my office and get him warmed up. It looks pretty mild.”

Eli'vanto frowned as the gist of the conversation caught up with him. “I'm f-fine.”

Rather than argue Ba'kif just scooped the smaller human up and carted him off.

“How are you Eli'vanto? Ivant?”

“Mmmname'ssss _E-Eli._ ” the human murmured through chattering teeth. “Y-y-youall say 't wrong.”

“Eli.”

“Yeah. Hhhumans don' d-d-do the core...thhhing...”

“Interesting.”

For some reason that made the human laugh.

Ba'kif set Eli down once they got to his office. “Take your wet clothes off.” he told Eli'vanto as he went to dig out the emergency blankets he kept on hand just in case. He also stared up the drink machine he kept on hand to make cups of the sweet hot tea he favored.

When he came back with the blankets Eli'vanto had only managed to get his gloves off. Ba'kif moved quickly, stripping Eli'vanto of his clothes, down to his underwear, before stripping off his own top and picking the smaller man up, tucking him against his own chest and wrapping the blankets around the both of them. He sat on the couch by the drink machine, just as it chimed the tea was ready.

He let the tea cool as he checked the human's extremities- his fingers first and then his toes. No obvious signs of frostbite-good.

He propped the human up “Here, drink this.”

Eli'vanto's hands were shaking too much to hold the cup, but he drank readily while Ba'kif held the cup, and eventually he was steady enough to hold the cup on his own. Eli'vanto seemed to be recovering well, though he was curling in on himself more and more.

“I messed up didn't I?” he said eventually.

“That depends.” Ba'kif said. “Can you tell me what happened tonight?”

Eli'vanto's explanation was very precise. He'd reached a good spot to shelter by nightfall, a sheltered cave in a cliff face, but he knew he was close to the facility. He'd done the math. At his walking speed he should have been able to reach the facility by 1900.

He had actually checked in at 2200.

“I don't...have a lot of experience with snow.” Eli'vanto admitted. “I must have overestimated my speed in the terrain.”

“You didn't get cold weather survival training in your Empire?” Ba'kif asked. He felt a fresh stab of guilt when Eli'vanto shook his head.

“Why didn't you shelter for the night?” Ba'kif asked.

Eli'vanto's eyes were strange dark things. Ba'kif found them oddly appealing, though it was often hard to tell where exactly he was looking. But now he was clearly avoiding Ba'kif's eyes.

“Eli.” Ba'kif prompted gently. Immediately the human's gaze snapping back to him. As unreadable as his eyes were, Ba'kif knew the look on his face from other officers.

“I was worried about how long I was taking to finish.” Eli admitted. “I really didn't want to be the last one left...” He trailed off, and Ba'kif thought that was all he'd say, but then-

"I'm so  _ stupid. _ " Eli'vanto muttered, almost to himself.

"You do not seem stupid to me, you seem like someone trying very hard to not get left behind." Ba'kif said. It was something he'd seen many times before, and he had always had a soft spot for the soldiers who had to put in that extra effort.

“What'll happen now?” Eli asked.

"Normally a soldier who behaves recklessly during this training would automatically fail, regardless of when they finished." Ba'kif explained. Against his chest Eli curled up even tighter. "But based on your explanation of your decisions I do not think you meet the requirements for _recklessness,_ besides..." He gently cupped the human"s chin and lifted his head until they were eye to eye. "You have learned your lesson haven't you?" 

Eli swallowed hard, and blushed spectacularly- but he understood that was standard physiology for a human. It was probably a good sign. 

Also it was... cute. 

"Y-yes sir." Eli stammered.

"Good."

They fell into a more comfortable silence, as they sat in the quiet of Ba'kif's office. They'd settled with Eli's head more or less on his shoulder, giving him a good view of the thoughtful frown on the young man's face. Ba'kif double checked Eli's extremities again, by gentle massaging the pale cold skin. He noted Eli blushed again as he did.

“You know one time Thrawn failed his survival training so badly I had to go and rescue him?” Ba'kif said.

Eli perked up immediately. “What did he do?” he asked, in an exasperated tone that was all too familiar.

“Oh he thought the sudden blizzard was part of his survival skills testing and didn't activate his emergency beacon until he'd half-frozen to death.” Ba'kif said. “He was in much worse shape than you are. He spent three days in the infirmary.”

“Of course he did.” Eli muttered. “Always making things difficult for himself.”

“It sounds like you have a lot of experience with that.” Ba'kif said.

“Just spent my entire career keeping him out of trouble.” Eli said. There was no resentment in his tone, just fondness. “...I hope he's alright.”

“I'm sure he is.” Ba'kif soothed.

“I know,” Eli said. “I just ...worry.”

He understood completely.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. Eli looked much better. Ba'kif thought he was nearly back to his normal core temperature.

“Literally all of me is sore,” Eli admitted. “ Besides that I feel alright.”

“You look better.” he said. “I think it's time to get you to your room so you can get some rest.”

Eli nodded, but before he could get up Ba'kif stood. Eli flushed again and clung to his shoulder as Ba'kif carried him from the room.

He could have let Eli walk back to his room in only a blanket he supposed, but it cost him nothing to escort him there and make sure he got settled. Besides it was late, no one would see them.

He keyed open Eli's door one handed and deposited the blanket-wrapped human onto his bed.

“Keep the blankets for now.” Ba'kif said. “You're off duty until the rest of your group finishes- you were the third one in by the way.”

“Oh.” Eli sounded embarrassed. He likely would have flushed again, if his last blush had faded.

Ba'kif smiled. “I'll check in on you tomorrow morning alright?”

“Yeah.” Eli said. “Thank you.”

It was instinct to brush the hair-softer and finer than he'd expected- out of Eli's eyes. “Be well Eli'vanto.” he said.

Ba'kif decided to leave his and Eli's discarded clothes in his office for now. He'd clean them up in the morning. Now he headed for his own quarters to turn in for the night. He did not have another shift until tomorrow night, plenty of time to make sure Eli was well. He thought he could see some of why Thrawn had latched on to Eli, and Ba'kif was curious to learn more about him.

Tomorrow.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Melt](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28964109) by [chaos_monkey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaos_monkey/pseuds/chaos_monkey)




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